Broken Hearts, Torn Up Letters
by shadowblade-tara
Summary: Shadows Within Saga. Somehow, as JJ formed this incredible bond with her team, Will found himself standing on the outside and wondering how he lost the best thing he'd ever had.


Criminal Minds © CBS.

Okay, so I've had a lot of reviewers asking me, "Shadow, what happened to Will? Why isn't he around?" And the answer is – I kind of forgot he married JJ. I thought the two of them split for some odd reason. So, because this is a major deviation from the series, here's my first fic from Will's point of view.

**Broken Hearts, Torn Up Letters**

Will still can't figure out how everything got so twisted. He never wanted to be a weekend dad, but here he is, staring up at the mansion JJ moved to and wondering where it all went wrong.

He fell in love with JJ at first sight. He almost understood her reluctance to tell the team about them – after all, they were a group of profilers (which always translated into psychologist in Will's mind) and he could imagine how annoying that would get. But he pushed, because he wanted the team to know that JJ belonged to him.

Yes, that sounds like he was being a possessive ass, but it's true. He'd seen the way Aaron Hotchner looked at her, and that dorky kid most of all – JJ always calls him Spence. She works with a group of attractive, intelligent guys; was it wrong of him to be jealous? To be afraid to lose her?

Maybe it was. He still remembers the argument that lead to him leaving. They were in the middle of a romantic dinner when the phone rang. Without a thought, JJ answered it. That alone wasn't enough to start an argument. What happened next was.

"Jen – wait, Spence, slow down. What happened?" In a flash she was on her feet and reaching for her purse. "Did you contact Rossi? Well, I'm closer – I'll make it before he does. Spence – is Hotch okay?" There was another pause. "Okay. Good. I'll be right there."

Will grabbed her arm before she could leave. "Let Rossi deal with it."

"I can't. Rossi's being held up."

"Jayje, this is _our night_."

"The team comes first, Will."

Will let her go then, feeling like he'd been slapped. The team comes first. On a subconscious level, he's always known it. He's always known he came a distant second to the team, that JJ would walk away and leave everything if they asked her to. Later he learned that there'd been a car accident – someone blew through a red light and clipped Hotch's car. Reid had been in the passenger seat. There wasn't any real damage, nothing a night in the hospital wouldn't fix, but it had been scary for the team.

In retrospect, he felt like an ass for walking away. By the time JJ got back from the hospital, he was already gone. He just couldn't handle being in second place all the time.

He knows there's nothing that can change JJ's mind about that, either. He's seen her come back from cases in a righteous fury because someone dared mess with her team. He's seen her throw things, scream, curse, and finally break into tears because someone came back hurt. He's always been afraid of what will happen to her if someone doesn't come back at all, but the last time he brought that up, she almost hit him. He never mentioned it again.

Now he stands here and watches as the team comes out to go to work. It startles him, seeing all those people in one house. JJ walks over to him, holding Henry by one hand. Another boy, maybe two years older than Henry, shadows them. He looks so serious, and Henry has the red eyes of someone who just stopped crying. Will kneels down.

"Hey, little man. What's wrong?"

Henry sniffs. "Wanna stay with Jack." He reaches out and grabs the older boy's wrist. Jack pulls him a little closer. By now Will can see that Hotchner is watching them. Jack must be his kid. Will sighs.

"Jack has to stay with his daddy." he says. "But I'm sure we'll have lots of fun on our own, right?" He looks up at JJ. "When you said you'd moved, I didn't think the entire team had gone with you."

JJ shifts her weight. "We all agreed on it."

"Whatever happened to keeping them out of your personal life?"

She smiles then, and Will doesn't like that smile. That smile says he's lost much more than he thinks – or maybe that he never had it to lose it. "That's impossible with us, Will." She turns her attention to Jack and Henry. "You boys say good-bye to each other. Henry will be back Monday, Jack. He's not leaving for good."

The boys hug each other, but don't say a word. Will finds that strange, but even stranger is JJ's reaction. Her head snaps around and she focuses on Spencer. The young man just stands there, watching the kids with a small, amazed smile on his face. Will doesn't like it, but then again, there are a lot of things about JJ's life that he doesn't like.

Hotchner calls for Jack, and both boys run over to him. Henry gives Hotchner a hug before reluctantly coming back to Will. Hotchner watches the boy go, and for a moment Will wonders what's going through his mind. Then he takes Henry by the hand and walks away with him.

Henry looks back over his shoulder at Jack. _I'm coming back, I promise._ he tells his older brother.

Jack watches him go. _You'd better. I'm gonna come after you if you don't._

Reid can pick up on the complete conversation, and the others can hear bits and pieces, and they all turn to face Reid. JJ speaks first. "How?"

The youngest agent just shrugs. "Henry was born after. Maybe you being awakened meant he was born awakened, to a degree. He's just latched on to Jack."

Hotch nods. "It makes sense, I suppose." he says. He's not fooling anyone. The entire team knows he's just as worried as JJ. He knows what Reid has gone through because of his gift, and he doesn't want the same thing to happen to his sons (and no matter who actually fathered Henry, Hotch does consider him his son). He's disturbed from his thoughts when Reid touches his shoulder.

_It's going to be okay. It's different this time._

Hotch turns his gaze to Reid. _How do you know?_

Reid just smiles faintly. _I had no one, Hotch. Look how many people our kids have._

He's right, and Hotch knows it. Still, he guides Jack to the car and he wonders.

What does the future hold for two kids like Jack and Henry?

/-/

AN: Okay, so that wasn't exactly what I was expecting. But, here's the thing – Jack and Henry are going to get their own little spin off series, under the Jack/Henry pairing (for lack of a better word), and it will be the Children of the Darkness Saga. Keep an eye out for it.


End file.
